The EC found that OPCOM has discriminated for five years the EU-based electricity traders outside Romania.
The European Commission fined the Romanian electricity and gas market operator OPCOM 1 million euros for abusing its dominant position on the national market of electricity spot transactions, thus infringing the EU competition norms, according to an EC release published on Wednesday in Brussels, AGERPRES correspondent Florin Stefan reports.
‘The energy exchanges are indispensable for the efficient operation of electricity markets, in the consumers’ interest. OPCOM’s abusive behaviour prevented EU traders from entering the spot markets of the Romanian electricity exchange, thus placing an artificial barrier at the entrance, which represents an infringement of the EU competition norms. National barriers of this type not only prevent the realization of a single energy market; they also obstruct the development of efficient and liquid markets,’ the European Commissioner for Competition Joaquin Almunia declared.
Source; Agrepres
